Direct seeded rice: An alternative rice establishment technique in north-west India – A review

Rice is most prominent crop in India and is the staple food of the people of the eastern and southern parts of the country. Transplanting after puddling (A process where soil is compacted to reduce water seepage) has been a major traditional method of rice establishment. Repeated puddling adversely affects soil physical properties by dismantling soil aggregates, reducing permeability in subsurface layers, and forming hard-pans at shallow depths which make land preparation becomes difficult and requires more energy to achieve proper soil tilth for succeeding crops. Excessive pumping of water for puddling in peak summers in north west Indo-gangetic plains (IGP) resulted in declining water table. Rice production with transplanting method has been limited by a number of factors such as water scarcity, high input costs, shortage of skilled labour, suboptimal plant population. Rice seedlings are transplanted by hired skilled labour that resulted in skilled labour shortage throughout the transplanting period which results into low plant population and eventually low rice yield. To overcome this problem, direct seeding of rice seems only viable alternatives in rescuing farmers. Simultaneously, the availability of high-yielding, short-duration varieties, and chemical weed control methods made such a switch technically viable. This technique reduces labour needs, input requirements, investment and save time by timely sowing of rice and shorten crop duration by 7–10 days than transplanted rice. Direct seeded rice, if managed properly, and provide grain yield comparable with that of transplanting. The potential advantages and problems with direct seeding are discussed in this paper.